Entomophthoromycota: a new phylum and reclassification for entomophthoroid fungi

One result of the recent phylogenetically based rejection of the phylum Zygomycota was the description of the subphylum Entomophthoromycotina (not assigned to any phylum) for fungi traditionally treated in the order Entomophthorales. More extensive gene-based analyses of these fungi suggest that they represent a monophyletic lineage distinct from all other fungi that deserves now to be recognized at the level of a new fungal phylum. These molecular data and further analyses of more traditional taxonomic criteria lead to this reclassification that still treats these fungi in six families but recognizes the new classes Basidiobolomycetes, Neozygitomycetes, and Entomophthoromycetes as well as the new order Neozygitales. Ballocephala and Zygnemomyces are excluded from Entomophthorales (Meristacraceae) and should be reclassified among the Kickxellomycotina.